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I can't remember the last time I started a thread....work and life has been pretty full on for the last year but fuck me I haven't enjoyed watching us that much since last season.

Not perfect as a performance but, as a fan, that had pretty much everything you ask for. Creativity, guile, endeavour, balls....it might not be the best we've played this season technically but it felt like the best performance.

Bloody brilliant. I don't think (barring a miracle) we can overhaul them but if we go "down" playing like that I honestly can 100% deal with it. We'll be back next season better, stronger, hungrier.

CTID!

ant london wrote:I can't remember the last time I started a thread....work and life has been pretty full on for the last year but fuck me I haven't enjoyed watching us that much since last season.

Not perfect as a performance but, as a fan, that had pretty much everything you ask for. Creativity, guile, endeavour, balls....it might not be the best we've played this season technically but it felt like the best performance.

Bloody brilliant. I don't think (barring a miracle) we can overhaul them but if we go "down" playing like that I honestly can 100% deal with it. We'll be back next season better, stronger, hungrier.

CTID!

Thank God for Marwood Eh....You want to say it...:-)

Marwood signed Rodwell didn't he

For that...today...I even love Marwood

I agree, if we lose the title playing like that I can handle it.

ant london wrote:I can't remember the last time I started a thread....work and life has been pretty full on for the last year but fuck me I haven't enjoyed watching us that much since last season.

Not perfect as a performance but, as a fan, that had pretty much everything you ask for. Creativity, guile, endeavour, balls....it might not be the best we've played this season technically but it felt like the best performance.

Bloody brilliant. I don't think (barring a miracle) we can overhaul them but if we go "down" playing like that I honestly can 100% deal with it. We'll be back next season better, stronger, hungrier.

CTID!

Couldn't agree more. +1 you expatriate.

ant london wrote:Marwood signed Rodwell didn't he

For that...today...I even love Marwood

Mancini was after Rodwell for a very long time...all fuckead had to do was push the deal forward,

carl_feedthegoat wrote:
Mancini was after Rodwell for a very long time...all fuckead had to do was push the deal forward,

agree with that observation CARL

zuricity wrote:

carl_feedthegoat wrote:
Mancini was after Rodwell for a very long time...all fuckead had to do was push the deal forward,

agree with that observation CARL

Just try this.

Shut up Carl.

Oh yeah, never get tired of that.

It was a great game to watch. Even most neutrals would have enjoyed that.

Awesome performance from us. Chelsea did cause us problems occasionally, but we dealt with their threat very well for the most part.

Hopefully that boosts the confidence of the players and drives us forward now. We all know the league is a long shot, but if we can keep playing like that and winning, then it will put some pressure on United and they could capitulate again as they did last year. Plus we need to maintain strong form going into the FA Cup as we definitely need to go all out and win that.

But the spirit should be great in the camp now, so bring on Villa next week!

Slim wrote:
Just try this.

Shut up Carl.

Oh yeah, never get tired of that.

we're probably indulging ourselves too much after a great win Slim. Anyway my third frothie is getting warm

Anyway, it was never a penalty !!

Very good game and really enjoyed it. We actually played a very good Chelsea team off the park and restricted them to bits-and-bats. Whether they were a little tired from midweek is for debate but we went around our business like we did against Leeds.

Apart from the goals, the great build-up and shot from Yaya was quite breath taking and the way 4 players sprinted to stop a shot in the 75th said a lot about our attitude.

To win in that manner against such a team was impressive and to say I was more than happy with the result is an understatement.

Slim wrote:

zuricity wrote:

carl_feedthegoat wrote:
Mancini was after Rodwell for a very long time...all fuckead had to do was push the deal forward,

agree with that observation CARL

Just try this.

Shut up Carl.

Oh yeah, never get tired of that.

Bush fire..bush fire....get the pale of water fuckardo.

Consider yourself indulged Ant. I realise how much I love City when they do things like that!

Took my son to his first City game today. We both really really enjoyed it. You need a few frustrating moments to make the good bits all the more enjoyable.

Thanks City!

I started to enjoy it at about 85 mins, if joe hadn't pulled off that stunning save I fear we would be having a very different thread now. But like you, I can't believe how much hungrier we seemed, even if Chelsea were probably knackered from midweek.

I'm also still concerned by our performance in front of goal, it's rare you get that many chances against Chelsea, we still seem short on confidence

But all in all, we played them off the park, kept a clean sheet and have put a nice gap between us and 3rd

Great days work

I agree completely (& that Mancini signed JR and all the others). Garcia & Nastasic also had their best games today but overall we had more 'legs' in the centre, with Milner dropping in there, freeing up Silva & Yaya to roam.

Today was progress in formation and selection & Dortmund etc would not have run through today's team.

I hope this is part of a revised plan rather than a one off experiment.

We made Chelski look very ordinary today, could Rodders have finally got his head straight? Was good to see, even if Mariner did all he could to prevent us winning.

Ted Hughes wrote:I agree completely (& that Mancini signed JR and all the others). Garcia & Nastasic also had their best games today but overall we had more 'legs' in the centre, with Milner dropping in there, freeing up Silva & Yaya to roam.

Today was progress in formation and selection & Dortmund etc would not have run through today's team.

I hope this is part of a revised plan rather than a one off experiment.

I've got no basis for suggesting this but I wonder if Kiddo had more of an input into today's formation and team selection, with its seemingly common-sense and, putatively, 'back to basics' 4-2-3-1 approach (for want of a better way to describe it).

I'm thinking of the parallel with last season when, after the Arsenal result, by all accounts, Kiddo was a big influence upon Mancini not to give up the ghost and regard the title chase as being over and the team played with a renewed determination therafter.

As you say, it'll be interesting to see if this approach continues in the next few games.

Mikhail Chigorin wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:I agree completely (& that Mancini signed JR and all the others). Garcia & Nastasic also had their best games today but overall we had more 'legs' in the centre, with Milner dropping in there, freeing up Silva & Yaya to roam.

Today was progress in formation and selection & Dortmund etc would not have run through today's team.

I hope this is part of a revised plan rather than a one off experiment.

I've got no basis for suggesting this but I wonder if Kiddo had more of an input into today's formation and team selection, with its seemingly common-sense and, putatively, 'back to basics' 4-2-3-1 approach (for want of a better way to describe it).

I'm thinking of the parallel with last season when, after the Arsenal result, by all accounts, Kiddo was a big influence upon Mancini not to give up the ghost and regard the title chase as being over and the team played with a renewed determination therafter.

As you say, it'll be interesting to see if this approach continues in the next few games.

Khaldoon had the biggest influence last year after the Arsenal game when he told Mancini to lighten up ,take the pressure off the team,tell Utd it's all theirs and just go out and play football and win games.

I thought we were excellent today and thoroughly deserved the win, scoring two fine goals.

Our pressing was very good and meant that Chelsea lost possession in their own half on several occasions, Aguero played a key role in this even though his first touch and finishing were not on top form. Yaya played one of his best performances this season - probably equal with his display away at Newcastle.

Rodwell's performance was very encouraging and given that it was his first start for 4 months due to injury, and that he had been booked, it was sensible by Mancini that Rodwell was replaced after 55 mins. Really liked the way he had so much energy, broke into Chelsea's box on several occasions and a first goal for City will not be far off if he can continue to reproduce this.

Kolo and Nastasic formed a good partnership and Garcia was decent, patrolling in front of them - the extra man in midfield helped him as he could just sit in front of the defence and allow Milner, Yaya, Rodwell etc to join attacks.

Thought Mancini got his tactics absolutely spot on with Yaya just off Aguero as it meant we matched Chelsea's three-man central midfield and won the midfield battle through our pressing, work rate and desire. This was the key reason why we won the match for me.

Certainly, right up there as one of our best performances of the season and following on from the 4-0 win over Leeds, it is terrific to see the right response following the huge disappointment at Southampton.

Forza Mancini.